Having a background in sociology, philosophy, and economics, I'm going to try to give this blog a pretty broad scope. Going from finance and economics, to geopolitics and world news, to the occasional academic or theoretical post.
I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and live in New York, so we'll try to add that into it as well.
Even though I like Adam Smith, don't be surprised if a little Marx makes its way in there as well.
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GoogleGoogle executive chairman Eric Schmidt is not a fan of MicrosoftMicrosoft, and isn’t at all afraid of the rise of social media. In a recent speech, Schmidt also explained the move into cloud computing would fuel the rise of their Android operating system and Chrome browser, in detriment of the PC and Microsoft. Finally, the former chief executive of internet giant criticized the government for the NSA leaks, asking for less surveillance and telling the crowd to fight for freedom of speech and their own rights, omitting Google’s involvement in censorship in China and spying at home.

Speaking at the Magazine Publishers of America 2013 annual conference in New York, a combative Schmidt touched on a variety of issues and presaged a bright future for Google. Asked whether he was concerned about the rise of social media, with FacebookFacebook, Twitter, and LinkedInLinkedIn leading the pack, and the threats to Google’s search-based business model, Schmidt explained “the good thing for [us] is that there is so much information [being created] that it’s hard not to be overwhelmed.”

Interconnectivity can be “monetized,” Schmidt said, which is why Twitter is pursuing an IPO, but that will only lead to opportunities for Google as search and social work together. And while he mentioned Google+, Schmidt didn’t touch on their social network’s stagnation vis-à-vis its competitors.

Looking into the future, Schmidt said we are in the midst of a transition that occurs every 20 years, as increasingly content is consumed on smartphones and tablets, and as the internet migrates into the cloud. Taking a stab at Microsoft, he noted the dominance of the PC over Apple’s Macs, adding “we all screwed up [on that one].” Building apps that are integrated with the cloud and the web, Google has created a strong platform in their Chrome browser, which he believes could dethrone Microsoft as “no one” is building apps on Windows. With a PC, a native app can get any task done, yet it’s not compatible with the web, with sharing, storing in the cloud, and with location-based services.

Finally, the Google exec spoke about the NSA scandal. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden opened Pandora’s Box by releasing a treasure trove of files documenting how U.S. intelligence has been tracking and spying on its citizens, global leaders, and international corporations. Schmidt noted that 100% of our phone calls and 70% of internet traffic is being monitored by the NSA, and the Snowden leaks could lead to the balkanization of the web, as cultural and regulatory differences result in differentiated internet regimes across the globe. “The fact that these tools allow you to do this doesn’t mean you should do this,” Schmidt added.

He also spoke about filtering, blasting China for their intense censorship. What he didn’t note is that Google has aided the Chinese government in enforcing its so-called Great Firewall of China. “You need to fight for your freedom,” Schmidt, said, adding, “free speech is very important.” Schmidt also made no mention of the fact that Google has monitored its users as well. The so-called Wi-Spy controversy is an example, where Google’s Street View cars were also sucking in information from open Wi-Fi networks, as my colleague Kashmir Hill has reported.

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“With a PC, a native app can get any task done, yet it’s not compatible with the web, with sharing, storing in the cloud, and with location-based services.”

Is he serious? He obviously is living under a rock or is confident his audience is outright stupid to buy this blatant lie.

Alternatively if you store your data in Google or chrome apps getting the data out is a nightmare, and that is the way companies like google want you to be, that way they can control you since access to your own data is extremely limited. Sure you can export to csv and the like but integrating is a nightmare and even if you do get it done google make changes on a whim and breaks your integration.

it goes to show you, that if he can lie this blatant to his target market and no one called him on it, we are in serious trouble as a human race, people are jut getting dumber, as for Apple products being easy to use, most people I know with an iPhone can barely use 5% of the features and they are always looking for help to fix issues, I just tell them go to the Apple Store.

Every 20 years? Transitions like the one we are going through happen once, twice, in the entire existence of a intelligent life species. We are trying to evolve from a type zero civilization, into a type one. We are becoming accessible to each other, & need to leave our criminal, & welfare behaviors.

Tech is making for all access society. Yet we are in the midst of struggling to shed the creation of welfare & criminal behaviors which originate in fear based barbaric myth religions, such as the bible. Without a successful transition away from these myths, we will become more chaotic, & unstable.

Unfortunately science is an abject failure, when it comes to the promotion of sociological science as a viable alternative to fear based myth. Science appears to be unaware of how much power myth has. & is offering atheism as an alternative, while promoting the welfare state agenda. Neither of those is any better than the church.

We can all be connected. As soon as we eliminate the influence of the bible, we will eliminate crime & welfare. We will eliminate our need of government. So here we are in this odd posture of waiting to see what happens. Will humanity gain it’s liberty? Will we somehow recognize that worshiping wrongly will cause our extinction? There are many revolutions going on now. There is a medical revolution under way. All of these we will have to evolve in order to enjoy.

If we do evolve, we will become very god like, to our little teeny intellects of today. The magnitude of brilliance in natures’ plan is barely ever fathomed. Rich gods, with a firm grasp on the very real truth about how nature was designed for a species to advance in this way. Into a being with optimum capabilities that we will use in tandem with the sublimely designed natural universe. It is not only that most of our faults will cease to be, it is that the perfection of natures design will allow us all to believe that she is god. Once we, of course, rid ourselves of the ash rendering of every human heart, bible.

“omitting Google’s involvement in censorship in China and spying at home”:. Really? Like Google moved to Hong Kong to avoid Chinese censorship or that Google required a legal order from the US government to release data. Kissing up to the yellow journalistic owner of this magazine are we.

I think it’s important to realize that Google has always espoused this concept of being “good” and trying to help improve the world (like Zuckerberg does as well), and just allowing them to say that when they are making billions on billions with our information is naive. Google aided the Chinese government before it decided to stop, it mines your information and the whole web, promoting content and making money from search. I am happy they do this, I love their products, but you have to keep them honest. And you know what, why don’t you comment on their Google cars stealing wifi network information?

Google mining data in Europe has gotten them censored much more than in the US. They take personal privacy much more seriously than we do. We don;t know what Google is doing, but it probably is close to an NSA type scheme.

Right like the NSA spying was also done by units that didn’t report to President Obama, right? Oh wait. I believe you are being naive. If you want Google and others to have free reign over all of your data, fine, go ahead. But don’t get angry when the NSA does the same. Me, I rather know what they are doing and make sure it’s controlled. I like Google, but as Schmidt himself said, just because you have the tools to do something, it doesn’t mean you should do it.

Google is such an immoral company. They want to make us information slaves. But not me. I use privacy-based services such as DuckDuckGo, Ravetree, and HushMail. You might want to re-consider your use of google products.

Both Twitter and Facebook need to directly take ad dollars away from Google to succeed. Eric should be worried, they are facing dozens of very damaging lawsuits and the Rockstar lawsuit could undermine their adwords revenue stream. Google has a great PR machine and so far has been able to distract investors from seeing their ever so real risk.